Fred,
Here's some information from various sources concerning 3rd party billing
services. There are many services out there, however none have achieved any
significant penetration yet. Check the archives of this mailing list for
additional details, as well as www.mobilemediajapan.com.
Andrew
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Prepaid cards
www.bitcash.co.jp
www.digitalcheck.co.jp
These prepaid cards can be purchased at participating convenience stores and
banks. Each card comes with a 16-digit ID number and enables the user to
purchase goods/services over the Internet, participate in telephone
information services and pay for mobile content at registered sites.
Credit cards
Companies providing 3rd party credit card-based solutions for mobile
contents billing use a simple model whereby they receive commission (usually
around 20%) on all transactions made.
www.IcardEX.com by Shoeisha
This service enables companies to sell content and bill mobile phone users
directly on a fixed monthly basis via their credit cards. Shoeisha charges
content providers 20% of the amount paid by the customer. Users of the
service register offline with Shoeisha and receive a unique username and ID
which they input when purchasing/ subscribing mobile content offerings.
www.k-tai.net by K-tai Corp
K-tai.net charges a handling fee (15%) to content providers at the moment
mainly used for a subsciption model though inceasingly for goods & services
too. Content providers and users both register with the site,with users
receiving a username and password with which they can carry out purchases at
participating sites.
www.yenraku.ne.jp Livin' on the Edge/ Openloop
User clicks on a telephone link to place an order and is prompted by an
automated voice to enter a credit card number. The user relays their credit
card number/personal details to an operator, and a confirmation mail to
their mobile phone is sent, acknowledging that their purchase has gone
through.
www.calle.ne.jp by NTT Communications
(see MMJ site for details, there was a good article featured there a couple
of months ago)
I haven't looked into this stuff recently, so service rates maybe different
now, but I hope this gives you a better idea of the transaction flow.
[ Did you check the archives? http://www.appelsiini.net/keitai-l/ ]
Received on Fri Mar 16 09:35:41 2001